There is a trend to integrate electronic functionality in the form of intelligent sensors and/or actuators in the tip of a minimal invasive medical instrument. These sensors and/or actuators can help the physician to guide the medical instrument through the body, or can allow for a more accurate diagnosis. Sensors and/or actuators, such as optical camera or ultrasound transducers, are well-known on the tip of endoscopes. However such electronic functionality is also envisioned for smaller medical instruments, in particular minimal invasive medical instruments, such as catheters or catheter guide wires.
These sensors and/or actuators are used in combination with electronic circuits. These electronic circuits need to be connected to electrical wires which run all the way from the distal end or tip of the minimal invasive instrument to the proximal end, where the instrument is for example connected to some readout device. Such an electrical wire can have a small diameter. The connection of the electrical wires to the electronic circuit arrangement (e.g. silicon chip), comprising a substrate and an electronic circuit is becoming an increasingly important problem. The electrical wires generally need to be connected to the electronic circuit arrangement (e.g. silicon chip) in a manual process, i.e. by hand. Such a manual assembly process is very difficult and time consuming. For example, the electrical wires can easily loosen. Also, the yield of the assembled electronic circuit arrangements can be very low (e.g. as low as 50%). As such, the assembly process of assembling and/or connecting the electrical wires to the electronic circuit constitute a significant, if not dominant, portion of the total cost of the medical instrument. Thus, the manufacturing of such electronic circuit arrangement or medical instrument is difficult and expensive.